March 23 --
Toxic chemical releases and disposal reported to the Environmental Protection Agency increased nationally by 3 percent in 2005, according to government data released March 22.
However, the agency released a statement that annual changes are not unusual and the trend is downward. Over the past five years of data, chemical releases reported under the Toxic Release Inventory program nationally have decreased by 22 percent nationally, according to the EPA.
Possible reasons for the one-year increase include production increases, fluctuations in the content of raw materials used in specific industries, and changes in releases at large facilities that impact the national data.
In addition, progress continued to be made in some areas, according to the agency. Releases of dioxins ù carcinogenic compounds that have been linked to numerous health problems ù decreased by 23 percent between 2004 and 2005. Mercury releases declined by 9 percent, according to the EPA.
Several major industries reported declines in their toxic releases. Petroleum refining releases dropped by 10 percent, while chemical manufacturers reduced releases by 4 percent.
About 23,000 facilities reported their releases for the EPA´s Toxic Release Inventory data. Ninety-five percent of companies filed their information electronically, which allowed for an earlier release of data to the public, according to the EPA.
TRI data for 2005 is now available online at www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri05/index.htm.
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